Rules of War
by bjxmas
Summary: 3.12 Jus in Bello tag. There are choices in war. Hard choices. Difficult decisions. Actions taken that under different circumstances you would never even consider, but in war anything goes. Interesting concept, justice in war.


Jus in Bello tag - Yes, Kripke, you did it again.

"_We must never permit the voice of humanity within us to be silenced. It is man's sympathy with all creatures that first makes him truly a man." _- Albert Schweitzer

Rules of War

"They're coming!"

There are choices in war.

Hard choices.

Difficult decisions.

Actions taken that under different circumstances you would never even consider, but in war anything goes. That's why civilized men at some point enacted the Rules of War, _Jus in Bello. _

Interesting concept, _justice in war_.

Many would consider that to be an oxymoron, to be mutually exclusive. In theory the rules are only applicable to nations which approve and consent to honor them, but under the common laws of decency, all nations are expected to follow them in practice.

Expectations…

Decency…

Humanity…

Doing the right thing.

Tell it to the six million victims of the Holocaust. And that was man against man.

This is war. A demon army rising up to battle humans. Looking to take over our world. Usurp it for their own decadent pleasure. Stamp out all evidence that we ever existed. Conquer and destroy mankind, or worse, enslave us.

We are outmanned, outgunned, and we don't have a clue what we are facing or how to beat it. Hell, aside from a few hunters on the front lines most don't even know there is an evil out there waiting to annihilate us.

Innocents…

Victims…

Mere insects…

Living in denial.

If we are to win this war that we don't yet realize is being waged, then we need men of action, sure and deadly. Men unafraid to get their hands dirty, willing and able to jump into the trenches and fight hand to hand, further messing up their own gritty worlds so some child's world might not explode in a fireball before they even get the chance to live. So more children aren't forced to grow up too soon, too fast, and lose their innocence. So no more Dean Winchesters are ever created and then sacrificed in this unholy war.

We need men unafraid to make the hard choices.

Willing to sacrifice for the good of mankind.

To accept the collateral damages that are inevitable.

Men able to live with the losses war brings.

That's what is needed if we are to have a chance at survival. A chance to actually win this war. Because this enemy doesn't play by any rules, isn't inhibited by human drives to be just or fair or humane.

The Holocaust happened because men couldn't believe that such evil could exist in our world. Good men stood back waiting for someone else to stop the horrors. Unable to comprehend that such inhumanity could possibly prevail, believing it must be a mistake, a falsehood, because there is no way man could ever be so cruel against his fellow man.

These demons are a hundredfold worse.

All evil needs to flourish is for good men to look away and do nothing. And it is so easy, _so_ _very_ _easy._

But some men don't have that luxury.

Some men have grown up with the knowledge of all the evil in this world. Witnessing firsthand what evil is capable of. Seeing and believing. Sam Winchester has seen more than most men could ever comprehend, more than he himself ever wanted to know; but like his family, he could not turn away from the visions playing in his head.

Another day, another fight; a last chance to set the world right.

Some men face the truth, accept the responsibility, and seize the moment to wage war to protect us. They are the ones that will make the hard choices. One innocent life in exchange for the lives of many. A young girl accepting her own sacrificial death for the good of the masses.

A leap back in history. A retreat to the days of human sacrifice like the Aztecs or the Mayans. A Vestal Virgin slaughtered to appease the gods.

Is this what we are to become?

In the face of certain doom some men refuse to lessen themselves. Refuse to diminish their own humanity. They believe that one life is worth the risk. That one life is just as valued as the sum of many; more so if it helps us hold on to that fragile essence that makes us human.

With all hope slipping away, they still fight to do the right thing, regardless of the impossible odds or the insanity in not taking the easy way out. The Winchester brothers fighting the good fight against all reason, opposing all conventional wisdom, and following their own course in this war.

Some men choose right over expedient. _One_ _life_ over a better chance to save many, for a chance is all they need to try and save all. They may not win, for the battle will be bloody and hard, but they will fight with everything they have and if there is any justice in the world, if the gods are smiling on mankind then it will be enough. And if it isn't, if the world ends tonight, then at least they go down swingin', knowing they never wavered from what was right and just. They never surrendered to the darkness that threatens to extinguish the humanity of man.

Because if that's what it takes to win wars, then they don't want to win.

So in the end the world will probably go down bloody and they know this, deep down they've always feared it. But they have choices, these men that fight to protect us. You _always_ have choices. And they choose to fight for all, protect _all_. And they choose to hold tight to their humanity. And so the world waits for the final battle and the end result, the fate of mankind hanging in the balance.

So.., which side will you be betting on?

-

The End

"_Man does not always live up to Humanity, but comes closer by trying." _- David Welton

bjxmas February 2008

All standard disclaimers apply.

_Sorry to go off on a philosophical rant and forego an actual story. I promise to do better next time, but darn Kripke for bringing up all these issues in the first place. Thanks for reading my thoughts, feel free to comment, B.J._


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